


Early Morning Experiments

by misura



Category: Magic: The Gathering
Genre: Domestic Fluff, M/M, Ravnica
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-19
Updated: 2019-05-19
Packaged: 2020-03-08 00:00:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18883966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: "Is that our coffee machine?"





	Early Morning Experiments

An agreement had been reached about bringing back experiments to the flat.

Ral had stuck to the letter of that agreement like a lawmage, while trampling all over the spirit of it like a Gruul warbeast, but then, being Izzet, he didn't think anyone would reasonably expect more of him.

He said, "Good morning!" trying to sound cheerful rather than guilty.

Tomik looked more amused than annoyed. Ral could tell he was going for 'stern', or at least 'serious Advokist about to make serious statements' but 'amused' was what he was showing, so 'amused' was what Ral would be jotting down as the experiment's outcome. For the moment, at least.

One of these days, he'd tell Tomik that bed hair made him look adorable.

"Is that our coffee machine?"

Ral bit down on an 'of course! are you blind?'. Being forced to answer questions like this was a low price to pay for the otherwise often delightful company of Tomik - or so he told himself at least once a week. It was true, though. (He told himself _that_ at least once a week, too.)

"Yes?" he said, proud of that hesitation. People who claimed Izzet didn't know how to practice diplomacy had no idea what they were talking about.

People who claimed Izzet didn't know how to stop tinkering with a piece of machinery that worked perfectly well already might, though Ral resented the idea that any experiment also involved things exploding. At least 20% of his experiments had not resulted in any explosions and/or property damage whatsoever, which made some people wonder out loud if perhaps they should not be looking for a more suitable guildmaster to guide the Izzet.

Tomik looked down at the various parts lying around on their kitchen table. An Izzet would have seen the way they fit together, as well as a few parts that might be improved, or added, or replaced.

"Are you going to be able to put it back together again the way it was?"

Ral swallowed a number of outraged responses. In a way, it was a fair question. In another way, it was a gross insult, but Tomik being Tomik, he certainly hadn't meant to impugn Ral's abilities.

"Probably," he said. Honesty compelled him to add, "I'd rather put it back together better."

Tomik gave him a look that was 51% amusement, 19% exasperation and 74% fondness, never mind that those percentages didn't add up and thus could never be recorded in a scientific journal.

"It's a coffee machine that makes coffee the way we like it."

At least Tomik hadn't said it couldn't be improved. All the Izzet knew that anything could be improved. (Opinions on whether or not that went for people as well as things were divided. Ral didn't think he'd want a better version of Tomik, because there was no improving of perfection, but one or two of his colleague guildmasters might acquire more pleasant personalities, or at least easier-to-ignore voices.)

"I could make it faster. Or add an option for soup. Or - "

Tomik kissed him. His bed hair wasn't any less adorable up close. "Or you could come back to bed."

"You mean, leave it like this?" Ral would be able to put it back together in under five minutes, of course. Even blind-folded and with only one hand - or none, provided there was a servo around.

"I mean, I have plenty of paperwork waiting for me at the office," Tomik said.

'No bringing paperwork back to the flat' had been Ral's counter to 'no bringing home experiments'. It worked about as well. As an Advokist, Tomik was very good at finding loopholes.

"This feels a bit like blackmail." Of course, from an Orzhov, that should be expected, even though Tomik seemed mostly involved with the more up-and-up side of operations.

"If it only feels a little like blackmail, clearly I'm not doing it right," Tomik said. "Perhaps I should apply for extra training."

The Orzhov offering classes in blackmail sounded about as likely as the Izzet offering classes in causing perfectly harmless substances to explode. (They didn't. It was all raw, natural talent. They'd just set up a rewards program to encourage people, and a fund to offset property damage.)

"I didn't say it wasn't working," Ral said.

"And yet I don't see any evidence that it is. As such - "

Ral kissed him. The bed hair really was adorable up close, though he'd also made his move out of self-preservation, recognizing Tomik's Advokist voice when he heard it. 

Nothing good ever came of letting Tomik carry on when he sounded like that.

"Let's go back to bed, what do you say?"

"Are you quite sure you want to undertake an experiment with such a predictable outcome?" Tomik's eyes were laughing, as was Tomik's mouth.

Ral wanted to kiss him again, but there would be plenty of time for that later - in another thirty seconds, say. Ral should be able to wait thirty seconds. "Any Izzet knows it's good to repeat experiments sometimes, to confirm your earlier conclusions."

"Ah." Tomik smiled. "I stand corrected then, and bow to your superior knowledge of such matters."

One more kiss before they left the kitchen wouldn't do any harm, Ral decided.

(Of course, one of them ended up bumping into the kitchen table, spreading parts of their coffee machine all over the kitchen floor, dramatically reducing the odds of its getting put back together the way it had been. Which Tomik would probably later claim to be Ral's fault, and Ral would know to be Tomik's fault, but they'd figure out how to blow up that bridge when they came to it.)


End file.
